Why do we love? A philosophical inquiry - Skye C. Cleary

譯者: 易帆 余 審譯者: Max Chern

Ah, romantic love -

啊！浪漫的愛情──

beautiful and intoxicating,

美麗又醉人，

heartbreaking and soul-crushing,

令人傷心又斷魂，

often all at the same time.

它們經常同時發生。

Why do we choose to put ourselves through its emotional wringer?

為什麼我們會選擇 這感情套環來折磨自己呢？

Does love make our lives meaningful,

是愛情使我們生命有意義？

or is it an escape from our loneliness and suffering?

或者它是擺脫孤單和痛苦的方式？

Is love a disguise for our sexual desire,

愛情是用來掩飾我們對性的慾望嗎？

or a trick of biology to make us procreate?

或它是一種 讓我們能繁衍的生物技倆？

Is it all we need?

愛情是我們所需的嗎？

Do we need it at all?

我們真的需要它嗎？

If romantic love has a purpose,

如果戀愛是有目的，

neither science nor psychology has discovered it yet.

科學和心理學都尚未發掘這目的。

But over the course of history,

但在歷史的過程中，

some of our most respected philosophers have put forward some intriguing theories.

一些最受敬重的哲學家 曾提出了一些有趣的理論。

Love makes us whole, again.

【愛情使我們再次變得完整】

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato

古希臘哲學家柏拉圖，

explored the idea that we love in order to become complete.

探索了『戀愛是為了 讓我們變得完整』這個想法。

In his "Symposium", he wrote about a dinner party,

在他的《會飲篇》中， 寫了在一個晚宴上，

at which Aristophanes, a comic playwright,

一位喜劇作家 阿里斯托芬

regales the guests with the following story:

用下面的故事來取悅客人：

humans were once creatures with four arms, four legs, and two faces.

人類曾是擁有四隻手臂， 四條腿和兩張臉的生物。

One day, they angered the gods,

有一天，他們激怒了眾神，

and Zeus sliced them all in two.

然後宙斯將他們切成兩半。

Since then, every person has been missing half of him or herself.

從此之後，每個人都 缺少了自己的另一半。

Love is the longing to find a soulmate who'll make us feel whole again,

愛是渴望找到一個 讓我們再次感到完整的心靈伴侶，

or, at least, that's what Plato believed a drunken comedian would say at a party.

或至少，那是 柏拉圖 相信 一位喝醉的喜劇作家在派對上講的話。

Love tricks us into having babies.

【愛情誘使我們有寶寶】

Much, much later, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

很久很久之後，德國哲學家 亞瑟·叔本華（禁欲主義者）

maintained that love based in sexual desire

主張：基於性慾的愛情

was a voluptuous illusion.

是一種緃情享樂的幻覺。

He suggested that we love because our desires lead us to believe

他提出：「我們相愛 是因為我們的欲望讓我們相信

that another person will make us happy, but we are sorely mistaken.

另一個人能使我們快樂── 但這是大錯特錯。」

Nature is tricking us into procreating,

「本性誘使我們繁衍後代，

and the loving fusion we seek is consummated in our children.

我們所尋找的愛情融合 最後得到的就是孩子。

When our sexual desires are satisfied,

當性慾得到滿足後，

we are thrown back into our tormented existences,

我們回到了痛苦的現實，

and we succeed only in maintaining the species

而我們所成就的只是延續物種，

and perpetuating the cycle of human drudgery.

之後繼續循環這人類苦差事。」

Sounds like somebody needs a hug.

聽起來像是有人需要抱抱了。

Love is escape from our loneliness.

【愛情讓我們擺脫孤獨】

According to the Nobel Prize-winning British philosopher Bertrand Russell,

根據諾貝爾獲獎者 英國哲學家 伯特蘭·羅素 所說的，

we love in order to quench our physical and psychological desires.

我們相愛是為了 消除我們身體和心理上的欲望。

Humans are designed to procreate,

人類生來就是為了繁衍，

but without the ecstasy of passionate love,

若沒有的熱戀的喜悅，

sex is unsatisfying.

性愛是無法令人滿足的。

Our fear of the cold, cruel world tempts us to build hard shells

我們對冰冷殘酷世界的恐懼 誘使我們築起堅硬的外殼，

to protect and isolate ourselves.

來保護並孤立我們自己。

Love's delight, intimacy, and warmth helps us overcome our fear of the world,

愛情的愉悅、親密和溫暖 幫助我們克服對這世界的恐懼，

escape our lonely shells,

掙脫我們孤獨的外殼，

and engage more abundantly in life.

讓我們更投入人生。

Love enriches our whole being, making it the best thing in life.

愛情豐富我們整個人生， 它是生命中最美好的事物。

Love is a misleading affliction.

【愛情是一種誤導的痛苦】

Siddhārtha Gautama,

悉達多·喬達摩

who became known as the Buddha, or the Enlightened One,

是眾人皆知的佛陀，也就是開悟者，

probably would have had some interesting arguments with Russell.

或許能和羅素有一段很有趣的爭論。

Buddha proposed that we love because we are trying to satisfy our base desires.

佛陀說，我們相愛是為了 試圖滿足最基本的欲望。

Yet, our passionate cravings are defects,

但是，我們激情的渴望是種缺陷，

and attachments, even romantic love, are a great source of suffering.

依戀，即使是浪漫愛情， 都是痛苦的主要來源。

Luckily, Buddha discovered the eight-fold path,

幸運的是，佛陀領悟到「八正道」，

a sort of program for extinguishing the fires of desire

一種能消除欲望之火的修行之道，

so that we can reach Nirvana,

讓我們能達到「極樂世界」，

an enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion.

一種寂靜、清涼、 智慧與慈悲的覺悟境界。

The novelist Cao Xueqin illustrated this Buddhist sentiment

小說家 曹雪芹 闡述了佛教

that romantic love is folly in one of China's greatest classical novels,

「浪漫愛情是愚昧的」的觀點 在中國最偉大的古典小說之一，

"Dream of the Red Chamber."

《紅樓夢》。

In a subplot, Jia Rui falls in love with Xi-feng

在次要情節裡提到，賈瑞愛上了

who tricks and humiliates him.

一位調戲又羞辱他的女人──熙鳳。

Conflicting emotions of love and hate tear him apart,

愛與恨的矛盾情緒，讓他生不如死，

so a Taoist gives him a magic mirror that can cure him

後來一位道士給他一面 可以治癒他的魔鏡──

as long as he doesn't look at the front of it.

只要他不看鏡子的正面。

But of course, he looks at the front of it.

但當然，他看了鏡子的正面。

He sees Xi-feng.

他看見熙鳳。

His soul enters the mirror

他的靈魂進入了鏡子，

and he is dragged away in iron chains to die.

最後被挷上鐵鍊，並被拖走而死亡。

Not all Buddhists think this way about romantic and erotic love,

並非所有佛教徒 都以這樣觀點看待浪漫和性愛，

but the moral of this story

但這個故事的寓意

is that such attachments spell tragedy,

指出這種依戀會招致不幸，

and should, along with magic mirrors, be avoided.

應該要避免，連同魔鏡也是。

Love lets us reach beyond ourselves.

【愛情讓我們超越自己】

Let's end on a slightly more positive note.

讓我們用一個較正面的方式來做結尾。

The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir

法國哲學家 西蒙娜·德·波伏娃 指出

proposed that love is the desire to integrate with another

愛情是渴望與另一個人結合，

and that it infuses our lives with meaning.

而它讓我們的生命更有意義。

However, she was less concerned with why we love

然而，她比較不管戀愛的原因，

and more interested in how we can love better.

而更熱衷於「如何能愛得更好」。

She saw that the problem with traditional romantic love

她了解傳統浪漫愛情的問題

is it can be so captivating,

是因為它如此迷人，

that we are tempted to make it our only reason for being.

我們會情不自禁地 把愛情視為人生的唯一目的。

Yet, dependence on another to justify our existence

但依賴另一人來證明自己的存在，

easily leads to boredom and power games.

會容易導致厭倦感及權力遊戲。

To avoid this trap, Beauvoir advised loving authentically,

為了避免這個陷阱， 波伏娃 建議要真誠地相愛，

which is more like a great friendship.

這比較像很好的友誼。

Lovers support each other in discovering themselves,

戀人們彼此協助對方找到自我，

reaching beyond themselves,

來超越他們自己，

and enriching their lives and the world together.

並一起豐富他們的生命及世界。

Though we might never know why we fall in love,

雖然我們也許永遠不知道 為什麼我們會戀愛，

we can be certain that it will be an emotional rollercoaster ride.

我們可以肯定，這將會是 一趟情感的雲霄飛車之旅，

It's scary and exhilarating.

令人既害怕又興奮。

It makes us suffer

愛情讓我們受苦

and makes us soar.

讓我們飄飄欲仙。

Maybe we lose ourselves.

也許我們會迷失自己。

Maybe we find ourselves.

也許我們會找到真正的自己。

It might be heartbreaking,

愛情也許會令我們心碎，

or it might just be the best thing in life.

又或許它就是生命中最美好的事物。

Will you dare to find out?

你敢探索愛情嗎？

翻譯：余易帆